Morton's Neuroma

I had this problem a few years ago and had private surgery (through work) to 'fix' it. I say 'fix' because all they really do is cut the nerve so that you cannot feel the pain (there is no actual cure, afaik). My surgery went well but the recovery was a bit gash, mainly because the surgeon didn't give me the right advice (said I was ok to go back to work 3 days later and after a few weeks of that my wound got infected, etc., and took ages to heal properly). So, my humble advice would be plan for at least 2 weeks off work with no pressure on one's foot and be scrupulous about cleaning (lot's of germs on the sole of one's feet, etc.).

Nowadays I am pretty much ok, can still feel a little lump where the neuroma was but it isn't painful. It certainly doesn't stop me doing anything that I want to (and can afford ).

Would I do it again, possibly/probably, but it would have to be painful to start with and I would be much more careful about recovery.

Now the not so good news. A colleague at work had a real nightmare. Had surgery like me but then had to have another round of corrective surgery afterwards. Pain is still bad but various other parts of his foot are now numb as well...and there is talk of more surgery required although my colleague is obviously resisting this and regrets ever having the first round. It appears that the surgeon who carried out the original surgery has had several claims of incompetence raised against him so this may have been a contributing factor.

Yes, I get this in my left foot and have done for quite a long time. It's not too debilitating, just uncomfortable. I'm a runner and long distance walker (as well as cyclist) and it will normally rear it's ugly head when I've run about 7 miles. It feels like a numb pain in my forefoot and tingling/sharp pains going into my toes. I've often described it as feeling like someone has hold of my toes with a pair of pliers and is twisting them.

I try and flex my toes which gives some relief, and after a few more miles it tends to dispappear. But it can come back later on. Sometimes, if I'm running off road, I can stand on a stone right where the point of the trouble is, and THAT does hurt.

I've never had treatment. One of my running friends has also had this and he has had cortisone injections in his foot which he says gives him relief for about a year. I've thought about doing the same but I guess I would have to go private and no idea how much it would cost.

DB

I understand from a work colleague who had this that the cryosurgery approach is common and successful in the US but probably only available privately here. In her case however the neuroma was too large for cryosurgery and she had the open surgery approach - so far so good but the operation was fairly recent.

Calpol rubbed in after exercise when the pores are open worked a treat for MF.